Executive Summary

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at Barry University focuses on undergraduates and centers on the broad areas of personal and social responsibility. These are two areas identified by the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiatives as essential components in a liberal arts education. A large majority of employers, over 80 percent, identify competence in these areas as important for job success.

Three learning domains that fall under the construct of personal and social responsibility will be addressed through the QEP. These are: (1) ethical and moral reasoning; (2) engaging diverse perspectives; and (3) community engagement and collaboration. These domains relate directly to the Core Commitments of the Barry University Mission. Six specific learning outcomes have been derived from these three broad areas.

Over the course of four years, incoming first-year, full-time undergraduates will take 27 course credits (15 credits in the first two years and 12 in the remaining two years) that embed one of the three learning domains into the content of an existing required course. A minimum of 9 course credits must have an experiential learning component. In addition, each student will participate each semester in two co-curricular activities that have been designed to address one of the three learning domains for a total of 16 activities/events.

Assessment of student learning outcomes will involve primarily course-embedded assessment conducted by course instructors. Student work products and reflection responses will be included in the assessment. In addition, students’ development of personal and social responsibility will be assessed by administering two standardized instruments, the Student Personal Responsibility Scale and the Social Justice Scale.

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